Advice for tooling for reaming aluminum.

Spadix · Mar 4, 2020

We've had a lot of trouble in the past getting on size holes with aluminum. Can anyone recommend some tooling or carbide drills that they've had luck with? Everything we've tried has had pretty mixed results and right now we are sizing holes in with long endmills. It's not going great.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Finegrain · Mar 4, 2020

Spadix said:
We've had a lot of trouble in the past getting on size holes with aluminum. Can anyone recommend some tooling or carbide drills that they've had luck with? Everything we've tried has had pretty mixed results and right now we are sizing holes in with long endmills. It's not going great.
Any help would be much appreciated.

What size range, and what does "getting on size holes" mean to you? I ream 6061 all the time, within a couple tenths. Are your reamers running straight?

Regards.

Mike

CarbideBob · Mar 4, 2020

PCD tipped reamers?
Mapal makes some really nice tools. They are expensive.
Standard general purpose reamers sometimes don't work so well in Al due to welding on the flute face at the corner. Different coolants or more speed may help this.

Phil in Montana · Mar 4, 2020

Are you using a floating tool holder?....Phil

Spadix · Mar 4, 2020

Finegrain said:
What size range, and what does "getting on size holes" mean to you? I ream 6061 all the time, within a couple tenths. Are your reamers running straight?

Regards.

Mike

We try to hit a slip fit reamed hole. We machine mostly fixtures and automation components.
My boss doesn't like using standard reamers so we tried drilling on size in one shot with carbide drills which had mixed results.
Currently I make "sizing" programs which open the holes up in 0.00025 increments.
Sizes range from 3mm to 3/4 sometimes going bigger though. Problem is the sizing programs have greatly increased machine time and we (me actually) are looking for a more accurate and efficient way.

Spadix · Mar 4, 2020

Phil in Montana said:
Are you using a floating tool holder?....Phil

No, rigid heat shrinked holders.

Guest · Mar 4, 2020

Are you using a good quality brand of aluminum?

Spadix · Mar 4, 2020

Dualkit said:
Are you using a good quality brand of aluminum?

6061 aluminum 99% of the time.

Guest · Mar 4, 2020

Spadix said:
6061 aluminum 99% of the time.

Where is it from? As in where it was melted.

G00 Proto · Mar 4, 2020

Most of my slip fit holes for dowel pins are now done with Guhring stub length carbide drills. I had to mess around with a couple of different sizes to get the slip fit I wanted for each dowel pin, and now all of those drills live in a special drawer and have special nomenclature in my CAM system. It is pretty rare that I need to break out a reamer for run of the mill work. On larger sizes (>1/2") I still circular interpolate using a wear cutter comp to hit tolerances, mostly because specialty drills get pretty expensive in the larger size, and I never really bonded with boring heads except in very long run production.

Spadix · Mar 4, 2020

Dualkit said:
Where is it from? As in where it was melted.

I don't have access to that information, I may get in touch with our supplier and find out.

Spadix · Mar 4, 2020

G00 Proto said:
Most of my slip fit holes for dowel pins are now done with Guhring stub length carbide drills. I had to mess around with a couple of different sizes to get the slip fit I wanted for each dowel pin, and now all of those drills live in a special drawer and have special nomenclature in my CAM system. It is pretty rare that I need to break out a reamer for run of the mill work. On larger sizes (>1/2") I still circular interpolate using a wear cutter comp to hit tolerances, mostly because specialty drills get pretty expensive in the larger size, and I never really bonded with boring heads except in very long run production.

We had used Guhring drills for a while but we were either under or oversizing holes pretty regularly with them. I'm fine with interpolating the larger holes, I'm mainly trying to figure out a good way to approach holes 8mm and under.

G00 Proto · Mar 4, 2020

Spadix said:
We had used Guhring drills for a while but we were either under or oversizing holes pretty regularly with them. I'm fine with interpolating the larger holes, I'm mainly trying to figure out a good way to approach holes 8mm and under.

That's weird, mine have been incredibly consistent. I suppose that could be because I tightly control on what and how they are used, and have control through the CAM system on the exact speeds and feeds that they are run. Once established they haven't seemed to have changed, I haven't lost a hole in so long a I can't recall.

Spadix · Mar 4, 2020

G00 Proto said:
That's weird, mine have been incredibly consistent. I suppose that could be because I tightly control on what and how they are used, and have control through the CAM system on the exact speeds and feeds that they are run. Once established they haven't seemed to have changed, I haven't lost a hole in so long a I can't recall.

That may be a factor, we do offline programming in the office and we have low skill opperators on the floor. It has not worked out great as you could probably imagine. Maybe the Guhring drills are worth a second look.

Squidmaster23 · Mar 5, 2020

Spadix said:
We try to hit a slip fit reamed hole. We machine mostly fixtures and automation components.
My boss doesn't like using standard reamers so we tried drilling on size in one shot with carbide drills which had mixed results.
Currently I make "sizing" programs which open the holes up in 0.00025 increments.
Sizes range from 3mm to 3/4 sometimes going bigger though. Problem is the sizing programs have greatly increased machine time and we (me actually) are looking for a more accurate and efficient way.

Any reason why your boss doesn't like using standard reamers?

Booze Daily · Mar 5, 2020

What about double drilling? ie: drill .242 then .250.

Guest · Mar 5, 2020

Dualkit said:
Where is it from? As in where it was melted.

Spadix said:
I don't have access to that information, I may get in touch with our supplier and find out.

Chinese 6061 is notorious for inconsistencies especially sticking to tools if you try to machine at feeds and speeds normally used on aluminum. With the material I get, mostly rounds, anything over 3/4" that is not marked is Chinese trash. It usually has heavier extrusion lines on the O.D. also. There are also poor domestic suppliers that are probably remelting old guard rails and beer cans mixed with ingots imported from China. Service Center is one of those. I stick with Hydro which I believe bought Sapa and Kaiser. The 7075 from Russia is decent, never got any 6061 melted there.

The invasion of Chinese aluminum into the North American market has definitely kicked up the number of "I am having trouble machining aluminum" threads. I wonder how many poor guys got fired before most people where aware of the issue of junk material from China had invaded our countries. If it was 1990 and some guy I was supervising came to me and said he was having trouble machining aluminum I probably would have gotten his last check and helped him load his tool box in his vehicle.

Finegrain · Mar 5, 2020

Have you measured the runout of your reamers after they’re in the holder? Might be surprised. With a collet holder, you can tap the runout out of a reamer so it runs true. It makes a difference in Al, speaking from experience.

Regards.

Mike

Finegrain · Mar 5, 2020

Booze Daily said:
What about double drilling? ie: drill .242 then .250.

Sounds a lot like reaming

.

gregormarwick · Mar 5, 2020

Spadix said:
That may be a factor, we do offline programming in the office and we have low skill opperators on the floor. It has not worked out great as you could probably imagine. Maybe the Guhring drills are worth a second look.

If you're using low skill operators, who sets the tools?

This kind of thing needs someone experienced and diligent, and provided with the necessary tools and equipment. If you're using beaten up old collets you're not going to stand a chance, same if you're using using imperial collets on metric shanks or vice versa.

High quality, good condition tool holders and collets, collets that fit the shank properly, alternatively hydraulic or shrink holders, and the right person to put it together.

Also operators must be diligent about keeping the spindle and the toolholders clean. One little chip on the taper and your tool now has a completely different runout profile than it did last time it was in the spindle.

Advice for tooling for reaming aluminum.

Plastic

Diamond

Diamond

Stainless

Plastic

Plastic

Guest

Guest

Plastic

Guest

Guest

Hot Rolled

Plastic

Plastic

Hot Rolled

Plastic

Plastic

Titanium

Guest

Guest

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Similar threads